‘Public Speaking & Presentations’ Archive
Public Speaking: Your Presentation Starts Before You Walk on Stage
Your Presentation Starts Before You Walk on Stage
By Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Whenever you open your mouth, whether your audience is ten people or a thousand, you naturally want to get a specific message across. Whenever you set out to present, persuade, and propel with the spoken word you want to keep the audience engaged…from the moment you walk on stage or to the front of the room. Your goal is to have a long term impact and speak to be remembered and repeated.
IN ADVANCE
Your presentation really begins long before you open your presentation. You need to know who your audience is and what they do. Ask “What is a day in their life?” If possible in advance interview a cross section of your audience. Why you were invited to speak? What connection do you have to them? Why would they care about your subject? With this information you can tie your key points to their lives, jobs and goals.
SCHMOOZE FACTOR
Get to your meeting room early. Get organized and test your audio visual. Then walk around and engage your audience. Yes, just talk to them. Introduce yourself, ask them how they are enjoying the conference, congratulate them for sitting up front, ask about their experience with your subject, have fun with them if they are sitting in the back, “Are you going to leave early if the speaker is no good?”
Once you have connected with them they will feel obligated to give you their attention at the beginning. Then get off to a good start so that the audience will stay engaged.
HAVE A STRONG OPENING
Engage your audience immediately with a powerful, relevant opening that is not an introduction of who you are. Most likely they know, or you are introduced. Even if you are not introduced say something of impact first so that they care! Imagine your audience is thinking “So what? Who cares? What is in it for me? Why should I listen to you?” Some of them are.
OPTIONS
You can start with an interesting statistic, a story, a rhetorical question, a bold claim, tie into the meeting theme, congratulate them on a team/company accomplishment…just don’t waffle!
WANT TO KNOW MORE FROM FRIPP ABOUT PUBLIC SPEAKING?
On Monday, October 14 Patricia Fripp is delivering two FREE TeleSeminars where she is answering questions two of her audiences have of her. You can listen on line or phone. As a Friend of Fripp you are invited to tune in. If you sign up you will receive a link to replay. Go to http://www.frippteleseminars.com
Patricia’s next presentation skills training is with one Fripp’s partners in World Champion’s Edge, Darren laCroix. Las Vegas June 15-17, 2012
How to Write a Speech: From Napkin to The Stage
Patricia Fripp & Darren LaCroix at Lady & the Champs 2012
By Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
These were the notes that went along with my new speech about how your write a speech delivered at Lady and the Champs HOW TO Speaking Conference 2012. Hope you find this helpful.
“How do you write a speech?” Not in a custom-made suit and high heels.
Chances are your masterpiece is NOT going to be created in one sitting.
You open your mind to accept thoughts, ideas, and concepts that will then be developed.
Good starting point: Reflect on your life, family, career, and expertise.
What stories do you tell at dinner parties and family events?
Many of your best ideas will come in conversation, often in noisy places, with the notes written on soggy cocktail napkins or church bulletins.
Save your ideas for when you need them.
Process: Start with ideas and a note pad, then a Word file (while you can still read your handwriting), next a flip chart, then PowerPoint, then rehearse both formally and informally. Record, revisit, and revise.
Work for focused, extended periods.
It is never too early to start.
First big challenge: What is your subject? You do need a focus.
You may say, “Patricia, I can talk about 10 topics with equal authority.”
Good for you. Pick one. Use the process to perfect one…then repeat.
Second big challenge: Your self-confidence.
Frequently asked question is, “What can I talk about with authority?”
Your summer vacation? Apart from your friends, who would care?
Needlepoint? Yes, for other needle pointers. That will pay modestly.
If your goal is to be well paid, is your message valuable to entrepreneurs, associations, or corporations?
Turning point for Patricia Fripp: When she realized she was an expert on how to start, build, and promote a small or medium-size business.
Speech examples that were delivered and adapted from 1976 to 2012:
How to Get, Keep, and Deserve Your Customers
How to Promote Your Business High-Tech, Low-Tech, No-Tech, and Totally Shamelessly
Third big challenge: Getting started.
Start with your family and life experience in chronological order.
Robert Fripp: “Any point you want to make in your speech, you can find an example from your family.”
How did the advice, inspiration, or example manifest in your life?
What was your result? How do you recommend your audience apply this to their situation?
Revisit your business career.
List your bosses, managers, clients who were mentors.
What experiences do your friends have who work in other industries?
This becomes a “chunk” of content.
Even a content speech is going to have some of your personal experiences.
Take your experience; what is the lesson?
Relate the life lesson or universal principle to the current environment, and be clear how your audience can apply that lesson to improve their life or business.
What do your successful friends tell you about their business experiences? If nothing, ask!
Most of them have no interest in being speakers. Do their stories fit into your subject?
How were you inspired, what did you learn, and what did you do as a result?
How has your life, business, or relationships changed as a result?
The Process of Writing a Speech Expanded
Start with ideas, a note pad, then a Word file while you can still read your writing, next outline on a flip chart, give informal delivery, add PowerPoint if needed, then rehearse more formally with a target audience. Record, revisit, revise, and improve. When you feel your speech is as good as it can be, have your masterpiece transcribed. Then edit for clarity and specificity, visual words, and emotional connection. Confirm you are using dialogue, “you-focused” language, and the words sound conversational, not written. Have you removed all clichés, your personal verbal “tics,” and empty words? The better your scripting, the better your delivery will be.
You think this process sounds like hard work? It can be time consuming. It is amazingly exhilarating. When you get this far, your audiences will say, “You can tell they are a natural!”
Robert Fripp advice: “Focus and use no more energy than is absolutely necessary.”
Patricia Fripp challenge: Think big, start small, get started.
Patricia Fripp is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), CPAE (Hall of Fame award), Cavett award winner (The Oscar of Professional Speaking), in-demand executive speech coach, and sales presentation skills expert.
Fripp works with organizations and individuals who want to put their best foot forward by gaining powerful, persuasive presentation skills.
Darren LaCroix and Patricia Fripp will deliver their next speech coaching camp in Las Vegas June 13-15, 2012
Speaking Trends from the Lady and the Champs
Dan Janal PRLead & Patricia Fripp
Dan Janal, President of PRLeads,is a popular speaker and successful consultant helping small businesses get publicity so they can sell more products. Dan was one of my early tech mentors.
Every year he attends dozens of conferences and speaks at many of them.You can imagine how excited I was to know he was attending Lady and the Champs How To Speaking Conference 2012.
He reported on some of the speaking industry trends he heard. Hope you enjoy.
Dan Janal wrote:
Here are trends in the speaking industry from the “Lady and the Champs Speaking Conference.
Patricia Fripp – “The speaking industry is rebounding. You must prove your return on investment to the company to get hired.”
Edt Tate – “Decision makers are becoming gatekeepers. Decision making is moving to higher levels in the company.” Also “Most speakers can’t make a good living solely as a keynoter any longer. We must have multiple streams of income.” Ed like Lady Patricia Fripp and Champs Craig and Darren delivers training, consulting and products.
Craig Valentine – “Executives realize stories sell… Better selling through story telling. You can be in high demand if you can teach story telling. Facts tell. Stories sell.”
Also, “Sometimes multiple streams of income start with multiple leaks. You have to stick with it.” Darren and Craig’s first event had 3 people. They lost money. Now they have 200 people at the conference.
Darren LeCroix – “People want video answers.” YouTube is his best marketing tactic.
If you would like to contact Dan Janal to find out how his clients get terrific results from his coaching, consulting, done-for-you services and do-it-yourself tools, please go to http://www.PRLEADSPLUS.com.
Speaking For Free? Maximize Your Impact
If you are speaking at service clubs, the Chamber, or Church groups in your community why not learn to…
Maximize Your Impact
Be easy to work with. Write your own short introduction, including the importance of the subject, and why you are the perfect person to deliver that message. Make your bio available to them well in advance for their newsletter. As most organizations now have websites that advertise the program, also send a good photo and link to your website.
Continue reading ‘Speaking For Free? Maximize Your Impact’
How To Organize a Speech
A frequently asked question on public speaking is “How Do I Organize My Speech?”
Here is a basic outline that work well for the beginning speaker.
1. THE PAST-PRESENT-JOURNEY FORMAT: This simple outline can help you tell the audience who you are and why you are qualified to speak on the topic you’ve chosen.
Continue reading ‘How To Organize a Speech’
Las Vegas Humorist Looks Behind the Gervais Humor at Golden Globes
Las Vegas observationalist humorist John Kinde looks behind the Gervais humor at Golden Globes.
All public speakers want to be funnier. We can learn from the masters who make us laugh and humor experts like John Kinde who teach us the techniques behind what they say. This was first published in my favorite ezine Humor Power check it out for yourself.
Gervais Humor at Golden Globes
When a comedian hosts an awards show, you can expect some roast-style humor. That’s why they hire the comic. A roast structure creates a vehicle to ensure the success of the jokes which follow. Before you start firing jokes at people in the audience, you need permission. This is usually received by making fun of yourself, which gives you permission to make fun of the boss or authority figures, which gives you permission to make fun of the honored guests.
Last night Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards for the third year. Some people were surprised he was chosen as this year’s emcee because many thought he was over-the-top offensive last year. But in his pre-show appearances, he made it clear that he was going to do some sharply-pointed humor this year, too. The anticipation of what he was going to say helped build the tension, which is an important trigger for humor.
Here are some bits from his monologue (not the whole monologue) and some observations:
So where was I?
(A transition from last year’s performance to this year’s. Sets the stage for “more of the same.”)
Nervous? Don’t be. This isn’t about you.
(He will start primarily with jokes about the sponsor of the event and himself.)
Hello, I’m Ricky Gervais and welcome to the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Voted for by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
(His formal opening lines establish the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was an authority figure, a fact which may not have been well-known to the television viewing audience.)
Tonight you get Britain’s biggest comedian, hosting the world’s second biggest awards show on America’s third biggest network.
(Uses the rule of three. Pokes fun at the host network.) Continue reading ‘Las Vegas Humorist Looks Behind the Gervais Humor at Golden Globes’
HOW TO Get Greater Results from Your Sales Presentations
HOW TO Get Greater Results from Your Sales Presentations
By Patricia Fripp
Are you losing sales you feel you deserve to make? Perhaps you are making one or all of the most common, biggest mistakes of sales professionals!
Hope you can benefit from the advice from one of my sessions at Lady and the Champs How to Speaking Conference February 25- 26 in Las Vegas. Thought you would enjoy a sneak preview of what we will be discussing. The ideas apply no matter what you are selling.
Would it be helpful if your prospect remembered what you said?
Would it be profitable if your prospect vividly knew why others selected you as their vendor of choice?
Here are the most common mistakes that my sales clients are making at the beginning of our coaching sessions. By the time we’re through, they’ve learned how to avoid them.
Thanking prospects for their time instead of thanking them for the opportunity to discuss doing business.
Using a flawed conversation or speech structure. Focusing on your company history instead of how you can discover or solve the client’s problems. Continue reading ‘HOW TO Get Greater Results from Your Sales Presentations’
How to Write a Speech: Make Money from Your Mind
How to Write a Speech: Make Money from Your Mind, and Overcome Your Three Major Challenges
By Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
These are my notes for my keynote speech at Lady and the Champs HOW TO Speaking Conference 2012.
Interesting statistic: 100% of all GOOD speeches are not written, they are rewritten.
“How do you write a speech?” Not in a custom-made suit and high heels.
Chances are your masterpiece is NOT going to be created in one sitting.
You open your mind to accept thoughts, ideas, and concepts that will then be developed.
Patricia Fripp and Darren LaCroix getting ready for Lady and the Champs
Good starting point: Reflect on your life, family, career, and expertise.
What stories do you tell at dinner parties and family events?
Many of your best ideas will come in conversation, often in noisy places, with the notes written on soggy cocktail napkins or church bulletins.
Save your ideas for when you need them.
Process: Start with ideas and a note pad, then a Word file (while you can still read your handwriting), next a flip chart, then PowerPoint, then rehearse both formally and informally. Record, revisit, and revise.
Work for focused, extended periods.
It is never too early to start.
First big challenge: What is your subject? You do need a focus.
You may say, “Patricia, I can talk about 10 topics with equal authority.”
Good for you. Pick one. Use the process to perfect one…then repeat.
Second big challenge: Your self-confidence.
Frequently asked question is, “What can I talk about with authority?”
Your summer vacation? Apart from your friends, who would care?
Needlepoint? Yes, for other needle pointers. That will pay modestly.
If your goal is to be well paid, is your message valuable to entrepreneurs, associations, or corporations?
Turning point for Patricia Fripp: When she realized she was an expert on how to start, build, and promote a small or medium-size business.
Speech examples that were delivered and adapted from 1976 to 2012:
How to Get, Keep, and Deserve Your Customers
How to Promote Your Business High-Tech, Low-Tech, No-Tech, and Totally Shamelessly Continue reading ‘How to Write a Speech: Make Money from Your Mind’
A Sobering Experience… An Article About a Meeting Gone Wrong
I am a professional speaker. I am adamant about what it takes for me to be successful. I do not accept speaking engagements that I cannot guarantee I can do well. And I do not bomb. Obviously, there are times in my career that I do better than others, but I. . .DO. . .NOT. . .BOMB!
With that preamble, let me tell you about a disastrous learning experience. It was 1988. I was hired to speak for a vegetable company. It turned out to be a rotten experience. The company was a subsidiary of a major packaging company, for whom I had successfully spoken. The vegetable company wanted to put on a good after-dinner show because the “Big Pineapples” from headquarters were going to be there.
You know how it is when the boss is coming to dinner and you try too hard to make a good impression? You prepare a ten-course meal with four desserts. And after-dinner mint…juleps. And the boss falls asleep…under the table…face down. Continue reading ‘A Sobering Experience… An Article About a Meeting Gone Wrong’
How to Write a Speech: Make Money from Your Mind
How to Write a Speech:
Make Money from Your Mind and Overcome Your Three Major Challenges
by Patricia Fripp.
While many of my friends in San Francisco are watching the 49ers I am working on my speech for Lady and the Champs 2o12 How To Speaking Conference.
My keynote is How to Write a Speech: Make Money from Your Mind
Challenge one: What are you going to talk about? Focus
Patrica Fripp speaking at Lady & the Champs
Challenge two: Your confidence
Challenge three: Get started with a proven method
The Fripp Process of Writing a Speech:
Start with ideas, a note pad, then a Word file while you can still read your hand writing, next outline on a flip chart, informal delivery, then add PowerPoint if needed, then rehearse more formally with a target audience. Record, revisit, revise, and improve.
When you feel your speech is as good as you can make it have your masterpiece transcribed. Then edit for clarity, specificity, visual words, and emotional connection. Confirm you are using dialogue, “you” focused language, and the words sound conversational not written. Have you removed all clichés, your personal verbal “tics,” and empty words?
The better your scripting the better your delivery will be.
You think this process sounds like hard work? It can be time consuming. However, when you are interested in public speaking and realize the benefit to your career it is amazingly exhilarating. When you get this far your audiences will say “You can tell they are a natural!” Continue reading ‘How to Write a Speech: Make Money from Your Mind’
